


First Impressions

by liaromancewriter



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Chance Meetings, F/M, First Meetings, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 21:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30010953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liaromancewriter/pseuds/liaromancewriter
Summary: A reimagining of the first day at Edenbrook and first impressions for both Ethan and MC.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart), Ethan Ramsey/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been bubbling in my head for a while now. After seeing some of my favorite fan fic writers be brave with their writing, I figured it was time to let my story out into the world. Hope you like it. Characters and some of the dialogue belong to Pixelberry.  
> Pairing: Ethan Ramsey and Cassie Valentine, Open Heart.

Cassie Valentine was not a morning person unlike her brother Max who was up at dawn every day ready to conquer the day. She wanted to conquer it too, just at a more decent hour than 6 freakin’ am. Still, she was finally here at Edenbrook and would, hopefully, get to work with Ethan Ramsey, her inspiration for this life-altering decision. Just knowing that he would be in the same hospital caused butterflies in her stomach. She had once seen a picture of him online, but it had been super blurry and all she got was an impression of aloofness. Someone that smart must have a million brilliant things on his mind. She just had to leave a great first impression and maybe he’d agree to mentor her.

She watched the flickering lights in the subway and tried to stretch her back in the crowded space. She had wanted to start her new life as a doctor on the same footing as her peers. This meant leaving her trust fund untouched and renting an apartment on an intern’s salary. The listing on the social media group she’d joined hadn’t looked so bad. Of course, if she’d known she’d be living it Harry Potter style under a busy stairway, she’d have taken up Max’s recommendation to have his realtor friend find something decent in her price range near the hospital. Those stubborn Valentine genes had inconveniently reared their head and she’d said, “I want to do this on my own and not as a Valentine.” 

Her train pulled up at the station closest to Edenbrook and she joined the masses exiting to the street. She checked her watch and started walking a little faster when she realized she would be late for orientation. She still had to get her ID made and who knew how long that would take. Her phone signaled a text and she smiled when she saw it was from Max. 

After changing into scrubs and getting her ID (she might or might not have spent a few minutes admiring the words “Dr Cassie Valentine” on the plastic badge), Cassie cut through the waiting room that one of the orderlies told her was a shortcut to the atrium where her orientation would take place. She heard a gasp and turned to see a woman falling off the chair. 

“Step back. I’m a doctor,” she said rushing to the woman’s side. 

From the corner of her eye, she saw someone in a white coat do the same. They both reached the patient at the same time and she got her first look at the other doctor. He was tall with dark brown hair that looked effortless styled and the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen. To say that he was gorgeous was an understatement and she felt herself getting tongue-tied. 

“You. Rookie. Get in here.”

Cassie realized that he was talking to her and knelt beside him to help examine the patient. He asked the nurse if the woman had filled out any forms. In the meantime, Cassie noticed that the woman’s fingers were turning blue and she had a bruise forming on the elbow that had hit the floor when she fell.

“That bruise wasn’t there before,” Cassie told the doctor finding her voice again.

His voice was calm as he asked if she was sure. If there was one thing Cassie was confident about it was her observational skills. Several years of being a people-watcher had honed her ability to see what wasn’t always obvious. And reading Ethan Ramsey’s work had pushed her to try and become an expert at reading people.

“What do we do, Doctor?” She tried not to panic as the woman’s breathing appeared to almost stop, but it was hard. “What’s happening to her?”

“Consider all the clues,” he said. “It’s all there. You know this, Rookie.”

The doctor looked cool and collected as if they were discussing the weather. His demeanor seemed to have an effect on Cassie, and she found her heart rate slowing down to a normal speed. Her mind sifted through everything she’d learned at med school, connecting the symptoms to the best possible answer.

“It’s a hemothorax!” 

Cassie thought back to the treatment and it was not looking good. A blood vessel had ruptured, filling her pleural cavity and blocking her lungs. Her only chance of survival was an emergency thoracotomy and time was not on their side. Before Cassie could process what was going on, the other doctor was pushing a scalpel into her nervous hands and telling Cassie that the woman’s life depended on her. 

This is not how Cassie pictured her first day at Edenbrook.

“Hey…you can do this,” the doctor’s voice was gentle as he placed his hand over her trembling one. His voice calmed her nerves and she blocked everything out but the need to do what must be done. Soon, the woman gasped as air filled her lungs and she was taken away by the nurse.

Cassie felt lightheaded but elated. She had just saved a life and she hadn’t even been a doctor that long. This was worth defying her grandfather and the future that had been planned for her.

“Doctor, that was absolutely amazing!” she turned to the doctor standing to the side and watching her with an expression she thought might have been interest. 

She wasn’t vain but she knew that her long blonde hair and green eyes combined with the patented Valentine genes attracted most men. She certainly never had trouble getting a date, but the way he watched her made her heart skip a beat. In that moment, she knew her life had changed forever and there was no going back.

“You’re right. It’s pretty amazing you didn’t get her killed,” his voice cut through her thoughts. “Your examination was slow and superficial. Your scalpel technique, amateur at best…”

Cassie felt her jaw drop but she hadn’t gone through two years of business school with the world’s biggest trust fund douche bags for nothing.

“Amateur?” She looked him straight in the eyes, letting him know she wasn’t going to be intimidated by him or anyone. She practically purred when she found herself saying, “Maybe you can give me private lessons.”

His smirk changed his face from aloof to something far more appealing. “Ha! I just might, Doctor…” he grabbed the brand-new ID off the lanyard, “Valentine. But I sincerely doubt you could afford my salary.”

His supercilious attitude pissed off Cassie who was ready with a rebuttal but didn’t get a chance as he turned his back and walked off.

“What an asshole…”

Cassie turned around when one of the nurses dramatically sighed and made dreamy eyes at his retreating form before saying, “Yeah and I’m completely in love with him.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” another nurse gave Cassie a commiserating look. “Dr. Ramsey is like that to everybody.”

“Did…did you just say… Dr. Ramsey? As in Dr. Ethan Ramsey?” Cassie hoped against hope there were two Dr. Ramseys at Edenbrook, but she knew she was fooling herself. She had just met her medical hero and he had not been impressed. 

It was going to be a long three years.

\-------------

Ethan Ramsey hated this time of year with a passion. He had dubbed it Hell Week after seeing interns come and go over the past several years. He categorized them into two piles: the one with potential but no desire to be better than average and the sycophants that wanted to say they had completed their residency at the famed Edenbrook. But every now and then there was an exception ─ an intern that surprised him and broke through his cynicism.

He walked pass the nurses’ station to see his patient, Barb. He’d received a page that she was refusing to take her medicine and Ethan was determined to win this battle of wills. One of the nurses, Sarah, stopped him with a question as she made doe eyes at him. He swallowed his irritation and answered as best he could. 

He caught sight of someone with long blonde hair further down the hall talking to an intern and knew it was her. The exception to the rule. 

He’d noticed her in the morning as he was taking the shortcut through the waiting room to the atrium where Harper had commanded his presence for orientation. Her wide-eyed gaze told him she was an intern, but in that moment, he didn’t care as he saw his carefully constructed world shift on its axis. He knew deep down inside that she would change his life forever. 

Soon he was guiding her as they performed a thoracotomy and he saw the potential bloom as she pushed back nerves to do an exceptional job. When he saw her ID badge, he realized who she was; the same Cassie Valentine whose application had jumped out at him from a pile of inane ones. It was his evaluation that had matched her to Edenbrook so he shouldn’t have been surprised that she would exceed his expectations even on her first day. 

Of course, he couldn’t tell her that or she’d never reach for greatness. So, he gave her a reality check and watched the fire in her green eyes and the desire to prove him wrong.

Ethan stepped into Barb’s room and saw the mulish expression as she stared him down. She was his most stubborn patient, but he had an affection for her tenacity to keep going despite her illness.

“I’m not going to ask you again, Barb.”

“Forget about it, Dr. Ramsey! I’m busting outta joint! I’ll tie the bedsheets together and rappel out of the window!” Barb was nothing if not creative.

Ethan couldn’t help but smile even as he tamps down his impatience. “Don’t wait up on my account. In fact, I might break out of here with you.”

“I mean it!” she exclaimed. “I don’t have my favorite armchair, and I’m bored without my puzzles!”

“And I’m bored of your excuses, Barb. Whine all you want, I’m not going anywhere until you take your medication.”

Getting Barb to take her meds the three days she had to spend in the hospital each month was a constant battle. Ethan didn’t mind it too much most of the time but coming on top of Hell Week and he was quickly losing patience. 

To give himself a minute of peace, he walked to the vending machine to figure out what could entice Barb. His eyes flicked to the chocolate bar at the top and he was tempted to get that for himself and take a much-needed break. Before he could make a selection, he heard someone behind him and somehow knew it was her.

“Um. Hi, Dr. Ramsey.” Her voice is hesitant as if unsure of her welcome. 

He glanced up at her for a split second taking in everything with one look before turning away. It’s all he dared when he’s feeling out of sorts. She’s changed out of the generic scrubs she had on earlier to an olive-green shirt and black skirt under her white coat. It makes her eyes look greener somehow. 

“Rookie.” He keeps his voice deliberately emotionless, hoping she takes the hint to leave him alone. She doesn’t.

“I was hoping you might sign my book.” 

Of all things Ethan expected, this wasn’t it. He didn’t see her as someone wanting autographs or idolizing others. 

“Autographs? Don’t you have work to be doing? Or at least other attendings to irritate?”

“No, just you,” she said playfully.

He forced himself not to react when she smirked. She’s an intern. Get it together, he lectured himself but he knew it was a lost effort.

“I won’t let you down again.” Her voice was resolute, matching the determination he saw in the way she held herself. He knew she wouldn’t. If she was anything like the person he saw on her residency application, she was not a quitter. 

“You can see the future? If so, you’ll make a remarkable physician.” He was being an ass. He knew it and her crestfallen expression told him he might have gone too far. It wasn’t her fault he had started falling for her from the moment he read her application and it only got worse after their morning together.

He thought back to what his mentor Naveen had taught him that first year and the words seemed to form themselves. “You will let me down again, Rookie. What’s more, you’ll let yourself down. Over and over.”

He kept his eyes on hers. Mentoring was a delicate balance between praise, constructive criticism and helping them find their own path rather than blindly following someone else’s expectations. “But what matters is that you get back on your feet each and every time, and push yourself to be better.”

Her eyes were the most expressive part of her face. Earlier that day he had seen the green going darker when he criticized her skills. Now, he saw a different light, a sparkle as she processed his words and found her resolve again. 

He saw his words hit true and knew that he hadn’t been wrong about her. Cassie Valentine was the next generation of medicine…and likely the one person in this world who could make him want to break all the rules. 

It was going to be a long three years.


End file.
